Christa Steele is an experienced CEO, Board Member, Advisor and well-known speaker and thought leader of Digital Disruption and Corporate Governance in the new digital age.  

Board Experience

Steele serves as a board member of public, private, ESOP and family-owned companies across varying industry verticals.  

Board service has included six public and private company boards - including serving as Chair of Audit and Compensation committees to the financial services, insurance, wealth management, investment banking, transportation, equipment leasing, waste collection, food and agricultural industries.  

Steele  currently serves on the Board of Directors of Recology, OFG Bancorp and  Tanimura & Antle. She also serves on the non-profit board of  directors for the NACD Northern California Chapter, CA and Pacific Coast  Banking School, WA.  

Nationally Recognized Speaker & Thought Leader 

In addition to board service, Steele is an authority figure on blockchain, artificial intelligence, the IoT, and digital disruption to the boardroom. She is a nationally recognized speaker for the National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, Directors Forum, and Institute of Internal Auditors. Most recent speaking engagements include The Wallstreet Journal Artificial Intelligence Pro Conference, Consumer Electronics Show – Future of Money, NACD Summit, and PWC and NACD Blockchain Webinar.  

She has published several industry related articles and is often a sought-after expert for publications such as the Wallstreet Journal, Institute of Internal Auditors, and Bank Director. 

Partner and Operating Background 

Until recently, Steele was a partner and board member of FIG Partners, a highly successful investment bank focused on M&A, Capital Markets, Fixed Income Asset Management, and IPO’s with ten locations across the United States. In April 2019, FIG Partners was acquired by Janney Montgomery Scott.  

Prior to board directorship, Steele spent two decades in the financial services industry serving retail, wealth management and commercial clientele. Most notably, during her tenure, she became the youngest CEO in the U.S. to lead a $3.5 Billion asset size bank located in the San Francisco Bay Area of CA. As former CEO of a company with $500 million in market cap, Steele led improved core earnings 43% in a single calendar year, doubled the banks’ value in less than two years, and successfully led its sale for a premium in 2015.  

Expertise & Recognition

With an aptitude to understand any business enterprise working capital and business life cycle, Steele leverages her business acumen to add valuable perspective to the boardroom. She possesses extensive prior experience analyzing, underwriting, structuring credit and managing the treasury needs of complex domestic and international businesses. These insights, combined with C-Suite operating experience and digital expertise, bode well when solving for a complex pain point. 

Steele was recognized by Private Company Director Magazine in October 2019 as a North America 2019 "Director to Watch" and received previous recognition by the San Francisco Business Times as "Most Influential Leader in Bay Area Business" and by Crowe Horwath for driving significant financial performance improvement.  

Steele qualifies as a financial expert, is a Board Leadership Fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors, holds an MBA from University of Southern CA (USC) and an undergraduate degree from California State University Sacramento (CSUS). 

• Thinking through disruption and mitigation planning;
• Where to begin when developing a digital strategy and developing a digital roadmap;
• Strategic planning in the new digital age;
• Blockchain education;
• Next generation of board talent, assessing boardroom composition;
• Strengthening communication and transparency between the Board and C-Suite;
• Conflict resolution and decision deadlock;
• Understanding   and identifying new and emerging "transitional" enterprise risks and  determining what elevates to committee and board level reporting;
• The  increasingly blurred lines of audit and risk oversight. Developing a  plan for not just looking back, but looking down  the road and around  the corner. Determining when to segregate oversight  and what to  oversee;
• Understanding the balance sheet and business working capital cycle from a board director perspective...what you need to know;
• Legacy ownership and transition planning;
• Liquidity,   capital planning, market expansion, market retraction, expense   reduction - what boards need to know and ask of management;
• Merger & Acquisitions and Exit planning.